Scleroderma (skleer-oh-DUR-muh) is a group of rare diseases that involve the hardening and tightening of the skin and connective tissues — the fibers that provide the framework and support for your body. In some people, scleroderma affects only the skin. But in many people, scleroderma also harms structures beyond the skin — such as blood vessels, internal organs and the digestive tract. Signs and symptoms vary, depending on which structures are affected. Scleroderma affects women more often than men and most commonly occurs between the ages of 30 and 50. While there is no cure for scleroderma, a variety of treatments can ease symptoms and improve quality of life.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) makes it hard for you to breathe. The two main types are chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The main cause of COPD is long-term exposure to substances that irritate and damage the lungs. This is usually cigarette smoke. Air pollution, chemical fumes, or dust can also cause it. At first, COPD may cause no symptoms or only mild symptoms. As the disease gets worse, symptoms usually become more severe. They include A cough that produces a lot of mucus Shortness of breath, especially with physical activity Wheezing Chest tightness Doctors use lung function tests, imaging tests, and blood tests to diagnose COPD. There is no cure. Treatments may relieve symptoms. They include medicines, oxygen therapy, surgery, or a lung transplant. Quitting smoking is the most important step you can take to treat COPD.

Triglycerides are a type of fat (lipid) found in your blood. When you eat, your body converts any calories it doesn't need to use right away into triglycerides. The triglycerides are stored in your fat cells. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, particularly "easy" calories like carbohydrates and fats, you may have high triglycerides (hypertriglyceridemia).

It's a symptom of heart disease but typically does not cause permanent damage to the heart. It is, though, a sign that you are a candidate for a heart attack at some point in the future. The chest pain may spread to your arm, shoulder, jaw, or back. It may feel like a pressure or squeezing sensation.

Neurogenic shock is a distributive type of shock resulting in low blood pressure, occasionally with a slowed heart rate, that is attributed to the disruption of the autonomic pathways within the spinal cord. It can occur after damage to the central nervous system such as spinal cord injury.

Preventing heart attacks and stroke can involve extensive surgery to remove plaque from your arteries, but as FOX17's Nick Paranjape shows us, there's a new procedure in Middle Tennessee that is less invasive and substantially cuts down on your recovery time. At 76, Jimmy Wilkie of Hendersonville exercises on his treadmill 3-4 times a week. Recently, he started having pain in his left leg. It was so bad, he couldn't even walk. Turned out, Mr. Wilkie had a blocked artery in his leg. In years past, this would've required major bypass surgery. Not anymore!"The Turbohawk Catheter has really opened a new door for us," says Dr. Dan Wunder.Dr. Wunder, an Interventional Radiologist at Premier Radiology in Madison, is talking about the Turbohawk. It's a device which is inserted into the blocked artery, and inside the Turbohawk are 4 tiny blades."It can cut the plaque and with that shape of the disc it cuts with it pushes it forward into the catheter," says Dr. Wunder.The one-hour procedure doesn't just push the plaque to the sides where it can re-grow, but instead grabs it and removes it!"We pull it back out and it fills up," says Dr. Wunder. "Empty it out, go back down and we can cut some more out."Before and after images really say it all."They used a roto rooter as he called it," says Wilkie.A roto rooter, Turbohawk, call it what you want, but Wilkie says all he knows is the procedure worked right away!"There wasn't any pain at all in my leg," says Wilkie.It's rare, but the outpatient procedure can have complications like plaque getting pushed down in the leg. Dr. Wunder says the main symptoms of a blockage in your legs is having severe pain or cramping when you're walking or exercising.

Sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT) is an unusual tumor that, in the newborn, is located at the base of the tailbone (coccyx). This birth defect is more common in female than in male babies. Although the tumors can grow very large, they are usually not malignant (that is, cancerous).

The cat's stomach is a sac-like structure designed to store large volumes of food and continue the digestive process. The esophagus carries food to the stomach, where it enters via a valve-like structure called the cardiac sphincter. On the interior surface of the stomach is a series of folds called gastric folds. These folds function to help grind and digest food. The inner stomach lining secretes acids and enzymes to break down food. Once the initial stomach digestive process is complete, the partially digested food exits the stomach through the pyloric sphincter area and then enters the duodenum (first segment of the small intestine). Once eaten, most food leaves the stomach within twelve hours after entering.

Ureteral stents are one of the most common devices used by urologists. They are placed with cystoscopic guidance in an operating room setting. Ureteral stents are used to relieve ureteral obstruction, promote ureteral healing following surgery, and to assist with ureteral identification during pelvic surgery. Ureteral stent placement is associated with some degree of morbidity in the majority of patients that ranges from generalized urinary discomfort to urinary tract infection or obstruction. Much of the morbidity is related to the biocompatibility of the materials used to fashion the stent and, to some extent, their design; unfortunately, the ideal stent has yet to be discovered.

Cardiac arrest usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart. It's not the same as a heart attack. The main symptom is loss of consciousness and unresponsiveness. This medical emergency needs immediate CPR or use of a defibrillator. Hospital care includes drugs, an implantable device, or other procedures.

Ten percent of all pregnancies are complicated by hypertension. Eclampsia and preeclampsia account for about half of these cases worldwide, and these conditions have been recognized and described for years despite the general lack of understanding of the disease. [1] In the fifth century, Hippocrates noted that headaches, convulsions, and drowsiness were ominous signs associated with pregnancy. In 1619, Varandaeus coined the term eclampsia in a treatise on gynecology. [2, 3]

Wound-closure technologies are becoming less painful and more efficient at closing wounds.

You get motion sickness when one part of your balance-sensing system (your inner ear , eyes, and sensory nerves) senses that your body is moving, but the other parts don't. For example, if you are in the cabin of a moving ship, your inner ear may sense the motion of waves, but your eyes don't see any movement.

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A facet joint injection is a relatively simple, straightforward procedure, and is usually performed in an office based procedure suite or in an ambulatory surgical center. As with many spinal injections, facet joint injections are best performed using fluoroscopy (live X-ray) for guidance to properly target and place the needle (and to help avoid nerve injury or other injury).

The usual reason given for people getting fat is that they eat too much and/or exercise too little. That reflects one of the basic laws of thermodynamics—I forget which one. The amount of energy you put into a system minus the energy you take out has to be stored somewhere i.e. FAT! This formulation—true though it is—does not entirely explain obesity since some people seem to eat more than fat people and exercise no more than these same fat people, and yet they are not fat! Chalking this fact up to the general perversity of the universe is not sufficient explanation. Other factors must come into play. I mention below some of the ideas thoughtful people have proposed to explain why fat people become fat:

Research from Mayo Clinic finds that half of elderly patients who start dialysis after age 75 will die within one year.

Lead study author and a health care delivery scholar with the Mayo Clinic Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Dr. Bjorg Thorsteinsdottir says many elderly patients and their families feel that they have no choice but to start dialysis, with several expressing regret from having initiated therapy.

The findings were presented at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week 2013 in Atlanta.

With the help of vitamin K, the liver produces proteins that are important in blood clotting. It is also one of the organs that break down old or damaged blood cells. The liver plays a central role in all metabolic processes in the body. In fat metabolism the liver cells break down fats and produce energy.

Hemophilia B is a hereditary bleeding disorder caused by a lack of blood clotting factor IX. Without enough factor IX, the blood cannot clot properly to control bleeding.

Endometriosis (en-doe-me-tree-O-sis) is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus. Endometriosis most commonly involves your ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining your pelvis. Rarely, endometrial tissue may spread beyond pelvic organs.